566.032. 1. A person commits the crime of statutory rape in the first degree if he has sexual intercourse with another person who is less than fourteen years old.

2. Statutory rape in the first degree or an attempt to commit statutory rape in the first degree is a felony for which the authorized term of imprisonment is life imprisonment or a term of years not less than five years, unless in the course thereof the actor inflicts serious physical injury on any person, displays a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument in a threatening manner, subjects the victim to sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with more than one person, or the victim is less than twelve years of age in which case the authorized term of imprisonment is life imprisonment or a term of years not less than ten years.

Section 566.034 Statutory rape, second degree, penalty [L1.1]

566.034. 1. A person commits the crime of statutory rape in the second degree if being twenty-one years of age or older, he has sexual intercourse with another person who is less than seventeen years of age.

2. Statutory rape in the second degree is a class C felony.

Other offences involving sexual contact with persons under seventeen (17) and under fourteen (14), for example -

On 15 November 2016, in a case that may apply to divorced same-sex partners, Judge Douglas R Beach in the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, ruled a divorced man and woman must mutually consent to using embryos that were frozen and stored while married, declaring the embryos marital property, not humans with constitutional rights [C1.2], [R1.1].

On 03 October 2017, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a lesbian woman trying to get custody or visitation with a child she helped raise with her former partner finding that the woman has a ''loving parent-child relationship'' that's strong enough to qualify her to seek custody or visitation, even though she did not give birth to the child [C1.7], [R1.6].

On 18 August 2015, the Western District Court of Appeals held that Melissa McGaw, a woman who planned for and raised non-biological twin children with her long-term same-sex partner Angela McGaw, can seek custody of the children, ruling she has the right to assert her claims for child custody and visitation in an independent proceeding under the third party custody statute § 452.375.5(5); [C1.5], [R1.4].

In March 2003, St. Louis County Circuit Judge John R. Essner granted children's visitation rights to a nonbiological parent. It is the first ruling in Missouri to grant visitation to a third party such as a stepparent without declaring biological parents unfit to
raise the child. [R1.3].

In December 1999, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled a lesbian who lost custody of her daughter to her ex-husband would get a new hearing because Cole County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Brown III refused to remove himself amid allegations that his wife was also homosexual [R1.2].

On 22 September 1998, Missouri Supreme Court ruled 7–0 that an industrialist can keep custody of his three children, finiding that the fact that his ex-wife is a lesbian wasn't the sole reason for an earlier judge's decision giving him sole custody [R1.1].

On 09 April 2013 Roger Gorley was asked to leave his partner Allen Mansell's Research Medical Center hospital room in Kansas City, Missouri, when one of the patient's family members objected to his presence. The hospital said Roger Gorley's behaviour was disruptive and belligerent, necessitating his removal [R1.3].

In February 2010, the longtime partner of a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper killed on Christmas Day was fighting for his spousal death benefits, denied because the two aren't legally married in Missouri, though the state doesn't allow same-sex marriage [C1.2], [R1.1].

2.

County

On 01 April 2003, Jackson County launched a Voluntary Civil Union Registry, available at the Jackson County courthouses in Kansas City and Independence, that is open to same-sex or opposite-sex couples who are at least 18 and reside in the county [R2.1].

Applicants must show valid identification and complete a confirmation of registry form. The county keeps the original; the couple receives a copy.

3.

Cities & Towns

On 24 January 2012, effective immediately the City of Clayton passed an ordinance creating a domestic partner registry open to same-sex and opposite-sex partners. Registration will cost $50. Details of availability have yet to be announced [R3.4].

On 26 July 2011, the Olivette City Council passed an ordinance to establish a domestic partnership registry ordinance [R3.3].

On 10 May 2011, University City Council voted 6–1 to establish a Domestic Partnership Registry allowing same-sex partners certain privileges afforded married couples. Those include visitation rights in hospitals and jails and the power to make health care decisions [R3.2].

Columbia and Kansas City have similar laws [R3.2].

In March 1997, the St. Louis domestic partnership residents only registry opened. In the past five years, only 135 couples - 69 pairs of women, 63 pairs of men and three heterosexual couples - have made their relationship official [R3.1].

Registered partners have visitation rights at St. Louis hospitals and prisons and can apply for health insurance coverage in companies that offer domestic partner benefits.

The Missouri Revised Statutes, Human Rights provisions do not make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity unlawful.

On 08 May 2017, the House passed 98-30 Senate Bill No. 43 that raises the standard for proving workplace discrimination. It will soon move to the governor's desk where it seems likely to get a signature. The new standards would require employees to prove their protected class was ''the motivating factor'' for their firing or discipline [R1.4].

On 10 March 2016, the Senate passed (23-7 with 2 abstentions) Senate Joint Resolution 39 that ''Prohibits the state from imposing penalties on individuals and religious entities who refuse to participate in same sex marriage ceremonies due to sincerely held religious beliefs''. The Bill is now before the House [R1.3].

On 17 May 2013, for the first time the Senate passed SB96 19-11 that would make it unlawful to discriminate based upon a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. However, the House declined to take up the Bill before the 2013 legislative session came to a close [R1.2].

On 09 April 2013 Roger Gorley was asked to leave his partner Allen Mansell's Research Medical Center hospital room in Kansas City, Missouri, when one of the patient's family members objected to his presence. The hospital said Roger Gorley's behaviour was disruptive and belligerent, necessitating his removal [R1.1].

2.

County

On 27 November 2012, St Louis County Council voted 4–3 to pass Bill No. 279, adding disability, sexual orientation and gender identity to nondiscrimination protections for employment, housing and public accommodations [L2.2], [R2.1].

On 07 April 2015, Springfield city residents narrowley voted (15347 to just under 15,000) to repeal an ordinance that protected LGBTI people against discrimination in housing and hiring, even though it contained religious exemptions [R3.3].

On 26 July 2011, the Olivette City Council passed an amendment to an anti-discrimination ordinance forbidding housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity [R3.2].

In September 2009, the city of Springfield was set to remove a 1976 anti-gay law that discriminates against gays and lesbians in making it illegal to solicit sex from someone of the same gender [R3.1].

On 16 January 2019, the United States District Judge Jean C Hamilton dismissed the complaint of married couple Mary Walsh and Beverly Nance alleging Friendship Village discriminated against them on the basis of sex in violation of the Fair Housing Act and the Missouri Human Rights Act. The Court found that ''sexual orientation'' rather than ''sex'' lies at the heart of plaintiffs' claims and Title VII does not prohibit discrimination against homosexuals [C4.8], [R4.7].

On 24 October 2017, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal Western District held that people who believe they have been discriminated against at work because they do not conform to stereotypes of how men and women should act can file sexual discrimination lawsuits if they are harassed about it [C4.6], [R4.5].

On 27 October 2015, Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the Missouri Human Rights Act does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and affirmed the circuit court judgment dismissing James Pittman's petition claiming sex discrimination in that he alleged that he was harassed and terminated from his employment because of his sexual orientation. The president of the company, Joe T. Jurden, told Pittman that he was a 'cocksucker' and made other comments of a sexual nature, discriminatory to a male homosexual, including asking him if he had AIDS [C4.4], [R4.3].

On 19 July 2001, US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis upheld a lower court ruling that found Larry Phillips, a religious social worker, had been discriminated against because he opposed a Department of Social Services policy authorising placement of children with homosexuals [C4.2], [R4.1].

On 15 November 2016, in a case that may apply to divorced same-sex partners, Judge Douglas R Beach in the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, ruled a divorced man and woman must mutually consent to using embryos that were frozen and stored while married, declaring the embryos marital property, not humans with constitutional rights [C1.4], [R1.3].

On 29 October 2013, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled 5-2 against Kelly Glossip - the same-sex partner of a deceased highway patrolman Dennis Englehard - who has been trying for almost four years to obtain survivor's benefits, because he wasnít married, not because of his sexual orientation [C1.2], [R1.1].

On 26 February 2019, the State Supreme Court ruled (5-2) that transgender male student R.M.A., who was barred from the boys' restroom and locker room has the right to sue the the Blue Springs school district for sex discrimination, finding transgender people are protected from discrimination under the Missouri Human Rights Act [C2.12], [R2.11].

On 22 May 2018, US District Magistrate Judge Noelle C Collins in St. Louis ruled that the Missouri prison system must provide hormone therapy for Potosi Correctional Center transgender inmate Jessica Hicklin, currently serving a first-degree murder sentence [C2.10], [R2.9].

On 09 February 2018, US District Court Magistrate Judge Noelle C Collins ruled that the Missouri state prison system must provide hormone therapy for 37-year old transgender inmate Jessica Hicklin, who is serving life in prison without parole for first-degree murder [C2.8], [R2.7].

On 24 July 2017, the Western Division of the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled, in a 2-1 decision, that a biological girl identified as R.M.A., transitioning to be a boy must continue to use the Blue Springs R-IV School locker room for girls [C2.6], [R2.5].

On 29 November 2016, the Missouri Court of Appeals made a preliminary writ of prohibition absolute, prohibiting the enforcement of Judge R Michael Wagner's 13 August 2015 order that fourteen-year-old F2M transgender Nathan submit to a mental evaluation to establish his mental condition in relation to his application for a name change [C2.4], [R2.3].

In August 1999, Governor Mel Carnahan signed Missouri Senate Bill 328, known as the Hate Crimes Bill, into law, expanding the definition of a hate crime to include criminal acts motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or disability, commencing 28 August [R1.1].

2.

County

On 27 November 2012, St Louis County Council voted 4–3 to pass Bill No. 279, that added gender identity together with sexual orientation in the hate crimes ordinance [L2.2], [R2.1].

On 08 October 2014, the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan cited Jackson County Circuit Court Judge J Dale Young's order that requires same-sex couples who were legally married in another state to be recognized by the state of Missouri, while announcing on its website that it will begin covering same-sex spouses of state employees or retirees who have valid marriage certificates [R1.1].

On 09 February 2018, US District Court Magistrate Judge Noelle C Collins ruled that the Missouri state prison system must provide hormone therapy for 37-year old transgender inmate Jessica Hicklin, who is serving life in prison without parole for first-degree murder [C2.4], [R2.3].

On 29 November 2016, the Missouri Court of Appeals made a preliminary writ of prohibition absolute, prohibiting the enforcement of Judge R Michael Wagner's 13 August 2015 order that fourteen-year-old F2M transgender Nathan submit to a mental evaluation to establish his mental condition in relation to his application for a name change [C2.2], [R2.1].

On 21 September 2017, former Missouri college wrestler Michael Johnson, 25, was reportedly sentenced to 10 years in prison for infecting another man with HIV and endangering four other sexual partners. Currently, 24 states require HIV-positive people reveal their status to sexual partners, and 14 of those 24 states require HIV-positive people reveal their status to any needle-sharing partners [R2.1].

In 2006, the criminal law in Missouri prohibiting consensual sex between same-sex couples was repealed [R1.1].

2.

Courts & Tribunals

The June 2003 US Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence & Garner -v- Texas that a similar the law in Texas was an unconstitutional violation of privacy is thought to have nullified or invalidated the Missouri law [C2.4], [R2.3].

On 31 August 1999, the Western District Missouri Court of Appeals declined to reaffirm the state law against homosexual conduct leaving in place an 06 July opinion that called the law into question. The court in that opinion ruled that consent was a defense to the crime of first-degree sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor [R2.2].

In August 1999, Attorney General Jay Nixon asked a state appeals court to clarify a state law that makes homosexual sex illegal in Missouri. The law was called into question after the appeals court in July overturned a Kansas City manís conviction on a sexual misconduct charge [R2.1].

In July 1999, the Western District Court of Appeals overturned the first-degree sexual misconduct conviction of William Cogshell, accused of sex acts with a boy who was 13 and 14 when the acts occurred. The Court ruled that the boy's consent to the acts voided Cogshellís conviction on the sexual misconduct charge. The ruling was significant as it was thought to allow consent to be an issue in any case brought under the law, which is the only Missouri statute that attempts to make homosexual acts illegal regardless of age [R2.1].

On 26 June 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry and all states must fully recognize same-sex marriages lawfully performed in any jurisdiction [C3.26], [R3.25].

Public policy, same sex marriages prohibited--license may not be issued.

451.022. 1. It is the public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman.

2. Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid.

3. No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman.

4. A marriage between persons of the same sex will not be recognized for any purpose in this state even when valid where contracted.

On 07 July 2015, Governor Jay Nixon issued Executive Order 15-04, requiring all of the state's agencies to comply with last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision ensuring marriage equality in all 50 states [R1.4].

In May 2004, the House approved a proposal to amend the state Constitution to say that the only marriage recognized under Missouri law is one between a man and a woman, preventing the recognition of same-sex marriages. The proposal was to put be to a statewide vote November 2004 [R1.3].

Former Missouri governor Mel Carnahan signed similar legislation in 1996, but it was thrown out on a technicality.

The new law reads, "It is public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman. Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid. No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman."

On 06 February 2001, the Senate Aging, Families and Mental Health Committee voted 7–0 in favour of Bill SB180 declaring that Missouri recognizes marriages only between men and women and would not recognize same-sex marriages that were contracted in states where such unions are valid [R1.1].

In 1996, Missouri passed a same-sex marriage ban, but a constitutional technicality invalidated the legislation [R1.2].

On 15 September 2014, the Columbia City Council approved changes to the city's 401(a) defined contribution plans, 457 deferred compensation plans and the police and fire pension plans, enabling the spouses of employees in same-sex marriages to benefit in retirement plans. Changes made in the 457 and the Police and Fire Pension plans were effective Sept. 16. Revisions to the 401(a) Plan will be effective next Wednesday [R2.1].

On 26 June 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry and all states must fully recognize same-sex marriages lawfully performed in any jurisdiction [C2.26], [R2.25].

On 29 April 2015, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals cancelled oral arguments in challenges to same-sex marriage bans from Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Missouri until after the US Supreme Court issues its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges [C3.24], [R3.23].

On 10 February 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court, in an opinion handed down by Judge Richard B Teitelman and confined to the question of whether the circuit court had subject matter jurisdiction in a dissolution of same-sex marriage case, ruled that a St. Louis County circuit judge erred in dismissing the divorce case of two St. Louis men referred to as M.S. and D.S., and ordered the lower court to again take up the case [C3.22], [R3.21].

On 22 January 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied the State's motion to stay the hearing of an appeal in the same-sex marriage case of Kyle Lawson, et al., v. Robert Kelly, et al. and the appellee's motion to vacate the District Court's stay. The Court ordered a briefing schedule for the case to proceed [C3.20], [R3.19].

On 09 December 2014, Jackson County 16th Circuit Court Judge J. Dale Youngs denied the state legislators' motion to challenge an earlier ruling in a Jackson County case, in an attempt to stop Kansas City from recognizing same-sex marriages from other states [C3.18], [R3.17].

On 05 December 2014, a Notice of Appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was filed on behalf of the Attorney-General against the 07 November 2014 order finding the same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional in the case of Kyle Lawson, et al., v. Robert Kelly, et al. [C3.16], [R3.15].

On 07 November 2014, US District Court Judge Ortrie D Smith ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that that couples statewide can obtain marriage licenses. The effects of the judgment will be stayed until the judgment is final [C3.14], [R3.13].

On 05 November 2014, 22nd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Rex M Burlison ruled that the state's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. The ruling, which applies to St. Louis, upholds the June issuance of four marriage licenses to same-sex couples [C3.12], [R3.11].

On 03 October 2014, Circuit Court Judge J Dale Youngs ruled that marriages between same-sex couples legally performed in other states must be respected in Missouri, finding that the state statute denied the plaintiffs their right to equal protection of the laws in violations of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution [C3.10], [R3.9].

On 07 August 2014, it was reported that the marriage equality case of Lawson v. Kelly was removed to the US District Court on the petition of the State Attorney General (filed 15 July 2014) and is assigned to District Judge Ortrie Smith [C3.8], [R3.7].

On 24 June 2014, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in Jackson County on behalf of Kyle Lawson and Evan Dahlgren and Angela Curtis and Shannon McGinty alleging the state constitutional provision limiting marriage to one man and one woman violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution in denying marriage licences to same-sex couples [R3.6].

In April 2014, Boone County Judicial Circuit 13 Judge Leslie Schneider granted a divorce for Dena and Samantha Latimer, who were married in Massachusetts in 2009 and lived in Columbia, ruling that under the legal doctrine of comity, which essentially means the recognition of the laws of another jurisdiction, a Missouri court can recognize the law of where the marriage was performed for the limited purpose of granting equitable relief [C3.5], [R3.4].

On 11 February 2014, the ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Jackson County on behalf of eight couples challenging the constitutionality of Missouri's laws denying legal recognition of their marriages [C3.3], [R3.2].

In April 2008, a judge was deciding whether a lesbian married in Massachusetts can get an annulment in Missouri [R3.1].

On 14 November 2013, Governor Jay Nixon (D) announced that he will issue an executive order directing the Missouri Department of Revenue to accept joint tax returns from all married couples, including same-sex couples married in other states [R1.1].

2.

Courts & Tribunals

On 04 April 2014, Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem denied a Temporary Restraining Order motion seeking to prevent same-sex couples claiming marital status from filing joint taxation returns. The cause was set down for hearing on 02 May [C2.2], [R2.1].

In August 2000, the Pleasant Hill Public School District agreed to pay $72,500 in settlement of the suit of a former student, harassed for four years by his peers because they thought he was gay, and to set up a program to protect students from antigay harassment [R1.3].

In July 1999, a federal appeals court in St. Louis pointed to the Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services Inc 523 U.S. 75, 80 (1998) ruling, finding against a woman complaining of harassment by men.

On 04 March 1998, in Oncale, Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority wrote that for harassment to violate Title VII it must be directed at the person "because of" his or her sex. Also important is that the behavior be severe, so that the federal law isn't expanded into a "civility code" [C1.2], [R1.1].